Dr. Strange and the movie leaving madness

My daughter summed up my feelings about Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness when the credits rolled and she proclaimed "that was dumb." I felt let down and betrayed. For the past month we had overloaded on Marvel movies getting my younger two kids caught up so this could be their first MCU movie to watch in a theater. The trailers looked good, Spider Man No Way Home exceeded expectations, and I walked into the theater expecting to share something special with my children. I got this instead:

The @DrStrange movie is what you get when you mix half an Evil Dead homage, half a cameo clip show, and half a marvel movie together in a blender, take out the best parts, and hit puree!

— Nathan Cooprider (@ncooprider) May 13, 2022

I have learned a bit of context in the week and a half since watching the film. My position has softened a bit. Elizabeth Olsen felt like the MCU had cost her too many opportunities and wanted out. The Scarlet Witch from the comics actually goes full crazy. The Darkhold has a rich history of corrupting users. Fans eager to see a "Marvel horror movie" looked to see Sam Raimi unleashed on the screen. If I had thought through it a bit more maybe I could have seen this coming, but I did not. 

My biggest complaint came from the treatment of Wanda. Instead of building off what she "learned" in WandaVision, this movie picks up like that series did not even happen (other than her two kids being the impetus for the entire plot). With little or no transition, she goes from triumphant and repentant hero to villain worse than Thanos. It felt a little tone deaf to take one of the few female Avengers still alive and make her the antagonist. Not just tone deaf: it sounded like a dog whistle to incels. 

I had other qualms besides Wanda's arc. The Illuminati seemed superfluously stupid. This group supposedly defeated Thanos, but then couldn't even go a few rounds with the Scarlet Witch? Reed Richards is the smartest man alive, but he doesn't realize he's hopelessly outgunned? Wanda goes insane using the Darkhold and becomes the bad guy, but Dr. Strange suffers only a weird growth in his forehead and no other consequences? The Wanda variant is not able to fight back and just lets her body get used? For that matter, Wanda and Xavier can't overcome the Darkhold together? 

I think a better exposition and maybe a clearer redemption may have helped with Wanda's story, but the movie would still be a mess. This is easily my least favorite Marvel show or movie so far. I'm saying this is even worse that Fantastic 4. I left wishing I had saved my "first Marvel movie with all my kids" token for Thor. 

Tron

My wife just purchased opening-day tickets for Tron Legacy on IMAX 3D. I have an awesome wife. I realize that some of you may not be familiar with Tron (hint: light cycles), so I have gathered some of the trailers in this post for you. Some are a bit redundant. All are awesome. Okay, fine, this first one is a cheesy product of the 80s:
The original movie is like that as well. However, it was the first movie to use CGI and it talks about computers and video games. It is right up my alley, even if it is a bit dated. This next trailer is what the trailer would be like, should they have edited it today:
So that is the original Tron. The big deal is that they are releasing a new Tron movie in two weeks. It will be awesome. Here is the trailer:
Didn't catch all that? Try the second trailer:
Doesn't that look awesome? Here is the third one:
Needless to say, I am very excited. The new movie should be great. It should have great special effects, great acting (Jeff Bridges won an Academy Award last year), and great geekiness. But that is not all. There are a few flavors of video games coming out at the same time which cover the story between the two movies:
I like this short trailer for the games (introducing the virus antagonist):
I am excited for Tron. Putting together this post makes me want to go play GLtron.

The Blind Side

My wife and I watched The Blind Side this evening and I really enjoyed it. My wife said as we were leaving (and after complaining about the excessive number of teenage girls) that the movie had all the things I would like in a movie. It is true. I admit I even got a bit choked up when Leigh Anne decides to open her home to Mike. While I completely recommend this movie and think you should all see it, if you must wikipedia the story you can find it here. I must admit I have consumed most my movies through wikipedia lately (last one I saw in theaters was Disney's Up), but I almost think the overpriced theater ticket price was worth it for this one.